Bartonella quintana , formerly Rochalimaea quintana , the causative agent of five-day fever , caused major epidemics among the Allied soldiers on the Western Front during the First World War, which is why the disease was also named trench fever . The disease is characterized by sudden headaches, aseptic meningitis , persistent fever and other unspecific symptoms and is transmitted from person to person by the clothes louse , Pediculus humanus corporis . With the decline in epidemics after the end of World War II, so did interestBartonella quintana until the bacterium was identified as one of the causative agents of bacillary angiomatosis (BA) in 1992 . More recent findings show that the pathogen could have contributed significantly to the loss of Napoleon's army on the retreat from the Russian campaign in 1812 . A case description for the city of Adorf / Vogtl. May also show that the remnants of the former "Grande Army" who were returning home had to fight this infectious disease.
